Army Aviation

Army aviation
U.S. soldiers in OH-58D Kiowa and AH-64 Apache helicopters conduct a combat air patrol in Iraq

An army aviation unit is an aviation-related unit of a nation's army, often described as an air corps. These units are generally separate from a nation's dedicated air force, and usually comprise helicopters and light support fixed-wing aircraft. Prior to the establishment of separate national air forces, many armies had military aviation units, which as the importance of aviation increased, were spun off into independent services. As the separation between a nation's army and air force led to a divergence of priorities, many armies re-established their own organic aviation branches to best serve their own needs.

Military aviation first began as either army or naval aviation units established as force multipliers to allow armies and navies to better do what they were already doing, this taking mostly the form of reconnaissance and artillery spotting, this led to the first fighter aircraft whose purpose was to shoot down enemy reconnaissance and artillery spotting aircraft, and to protect one's own aircraft from being shot down. At this point the purpose of aircraft was still to act as an adjunct to traditional armies and fleets operating in the traditional way. However, as aircraft became more technologically sophisticated military theorists of the interwar period began to think of airpower as a means in and of itself where the critical blow could be delivered by strategic bombing, and the experience of World War II seemed to confirm this. Post World War II air forces such as the Royal Air Force and the newly established United States Air Force concentrated on building strategic bomber fleets for attack and fighter fleets to defend against enemy bombers. Where it existed tactical bombing took the form of air interdiction missions, these air forces having lost interest in tactical reconnaissance in support of commanders on the ground and in the "taxi rank" type close air support missions, in which aircraft acted directly in concert with and at the call of soldiers fighting on the ground.

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